Chapter 509 507: Enraged

Cloudy Saint Robe—that was the name of this garment, and it was also a Divine Artifact. No one had expected Lin Xuan to make such full use of it. It would be more accurate to say he had put it on long ago. Since all his moves were Soul Attacks, Mu Qianlong had never been able to get close enough for a physical strike, so the crowd had no idea Lin Xuan was also wearing a Divine Artifact!

Relying on the Divine Artifact, he had no problem surviving the blast. Of course, even without it, he would have been able to withstand the attack. The reason was simple: Mu Qianlong had been completely frozen into an ice statue. Even with the protection of the Yunlan Sacred Robe, he was frozen solid.

It wasn't that the Yunlan Sacred Robe was weak. Rather, activating its effects required Elemental Power from within the user's body. After that final clash, Mu Qianlong's Elemental Power was all but depleted. How could he have any extra power to maintain the Yunlan Sacred Robe's effect?

Thus, he was completely engulfed by the Yulan Finger and turned into a true ice statue. Though not dead, he was no different from being half-dead. After all, the Yulan Sacred Fire had seeped into his body and damaged many of his meridians. He was absolutely, critically injured.

Lin Xuan, in contrast, was perfectly fine aside from a slightly pale face. This was a curb stomp. An absolute curb stomp. From beginning to end, Mu Qianlong had never even gotten close to Lin Xuan. He had been on the receiving end the entire time!

"Die!"

Lin Xuan snorted coldly. With a quick step, he appeared before Mu Qianlong in an instant. He mercilessly threw a punch, smashing it heavily against the ice statue.

"CRACK!"

Mu Qianlong's head was blasted into powder. The shockwave from the punch caused the rest of his body to crumble into dust as well! The Yunlan Sacred Robe he wore fell to the ground, now an ownerless item.

He was utterly dead, beyond the help of even the gods. But the Yunlan Sacred Robe was completely unscathed. Such was the resilience of a Divine Artifact; it could withstand terrifying damage and was incredibly difficult to destroy.

"Mu Shuang is the victor!" the referee announced, equally stunned by the final result.

A contestant from a minor Empire had just defeated Mu Qianlong, the contestant from the strongest Empire! It was incredible, utterly inconceivable!

"Did... did Mu Shuang just win?"

"Duh! Mu Qianlong's dead, of course he won!"

"The referee already announced it, didn't you hear? Damn, that was terrifying. Is that guy even human?"

...

Everyone sucked in a cold breath, as if they had inhaled the Yulan Sacred Fire itself. A chill ran down their spines, leaving them thunderstruck! It felt like a miracle, like a pauper had just beaten a prince. The gap between them was enormous, yet he had still won!

The key was that Lin Xuan didn't even seem to be at his true limit. He had unleashed another attack that no one expected, with even greater power. He hadn't even taken a Frenzy Elixir, yet he produced an effect that even a Frenzy Elixir would struggle to match!

In reality, the principle was similar. Soul Possession was like taking a Frenzy Elixir, capable of drastically increasing one's strength, and it came with quite a few side effects. However, compared to the side effects of a Frenzy Elixir, they were practically negligible!

'His strength wasn't bad, but still a little lacking.' Lin Xuan bent down and picked up the Yunlan Sacred Robe and Storage Ring from the ground. There were bound to be plenty of good things inside.

Even if there was nothing good in the Storage Ring, the Yunlan Sacred Robe alone made it all worthwhile. The ability to block so much damage made even Lin Xuan a little envious. Of course, he didn't need to wear it himself. He could give it to Lin Xue!

"You brat, you're courting death!" Yan Jingyun flew down from the spectator stands, swinging his palm heavily toward Lin Xuan. He completely ignored the audience, intending to kill him with a single strike right in front of everyone!

However, Bu Feiyun moved even faster, blocking Lin Xuan. The aura of a Void Spirit Stage expert erupted from him as he said coldly, "Elder Yan, what is the meaning of this?"

Yan Jingyun stopped, looking at him coldly. "One shouldn't be too greedy. You killed our man, the Yan Family accepts this. But you cannot take this Divine Artifact!"

Mu Qianlong's death could be overlooked. It only meant his strength was insufficient, and the Yan Family did not keep trash. But these treasures were a different matter. The Yunlan Sacred Robe had only been given to him to wear temporarily, not to keep forever. Now that it was being taken, they were naturally anxious.

The Yunlan Sacred Robe was a top-tier Divine Artifact. It absolutely could not be taken by others, especially not by someone from the Bu Family.

"Oh? Is that what the rules say?" Bu Feiyun said coldly. "This treasure belonged to Mu Qianlong. Now that he's dead, it's an ownerless item, meaning it belongs to no one. Since Mu Shuang acquired it, it should be his! More to the point, Elder Yan, what was that killing intent all about? Are you planning to break the rules and murder one of our people?"

Yan Jingyun's expression turned ugly. There were no such rules. In fact, this kind of situation happened often. It had occurred in previous matches—after killing an opponent, the victor would take their items. Because those items weren't particularly valuable, the Elders naturally didn't intervene.

But this was different. They had to step in. This was a top-tier Divine Artifact!

"That's right. It seems your contestants have also taken other people's treasures before. For you to act like this now, Elder Yan, isn't that a bit unreasonable?" The Elder from the Chen Family was more than happy to see the Yan Family suffer a setback. Besides the Chen Family, the people from the Zhang Family felt the same.

The Yan Family and Su Family had always been so domineering. If the other families didn't unite against a common enemy, they would only become more and more arrogant.

"Fine, fine, fine!" Yan Jingyun sneered. "Alright then, I'll let you hold on to this Yunlan Sacred Robe for now... We'll be back for it very soon!"

With that, Elder Yan snorted, turned, and walked away without paying any more attention to Lin Xuan.

Everyone could read between the lines. He meant that Lin Xuan would lose soon—or rather, that he would be dead soon. When that happened, the Yunlan Sacred Robe would be reclaimed, so of course there would be no problem.

Watching Yan Jingyun leave, Bu Feiyun felt a sense of relief and satisfaction; he had finally made the Yan Family eat humble pie. He immediately turned to Lin Xuan and said with admiration, "You truly did not disappoint us. For now, rest well. After you've fully recovered, you will proceed to the next match! If you feel you can't win, you can choose to surrender. We won't blame you."

He had to say this to protect Lin Xuan's life. This was a super genius; how could he not try to preserve him? In truth, Mu Qianlong's death was also a painful loss for the Yan Family. The resources spent to cultivate such a genius were immense. How could they not feel the sting?

"I understand," Lin Xuan said with a smile. 'At least they aren't completely heartless,' he thought, feeling a flicker of something different.

'But I'll still fight to the very last moment, until I can no longer move. I decided that long ago! If I don't even have that much fighting spirit, how can I ever call myself a true expert?'